BChil: your point is well taken, most folks who use entirly
Adobe-based solutions are not pros. I freely admit it, I am just hacking around. The point is that a consumer can spend $30K on a system and you can't get as good results as they did 5 years ago with a $500 handycam and a $2000 postprod setup...and if you go through Adobe's marketing literature, product documentation, knowledgebase, technical support or white-papers, there is no mention of this little issue...
Creig: I really dont understand the Good Grief reference, so I dont want to misinterpret the post. But I will give my 2c as to the prize: consumer and prosumer market sales.
Look, the pros know how to solve the problems In the past week I have spoken to 2 broadcast pros, folks who make films for Discovery, National Geographic and the BBC and are broadcast pros for FOX and CNN. I spoke to one semi-pro who films for National Geographic. They tell me that I am wasting my time unless I spend vast sums to go from HDV to SD DVD I am already into this for over $30K and they tell me I am missing a zero
Consumer and prosumer market is the right cycle for equipment upgrades at this point everyone is screaming small-frame HDV cameras as loud as they can Just drop into B&H sometime and wander over to the video area This is 70% consumer, 28% prosumer and 2% broadcast
I dont pretend to know the economics of the prosumer and low-end pro market, but I bet equipment sales have a fairly steep up-take curve when technology changes, then rapidly falling sales curve once the initial purchase cycle is complete. This market is small, the semi-pro market is forced to make changes when the technology changes, semi-pros make a one-time equipment purchases then uses their gear for as long and hard as they can, then they e-bay it. I mean, how many $175K broadcast cameras can Sony sell a year? After all the pros have them the sales curve must start to taper off, rapidly Also the semi-pro post prod houses do the same thing... on-time purchases when the technology changes, depreciate the assets over 5 years...
The consumer market is vast and a continuous stream of gear is sold Again, just drop by B&H for a look If it really is the case that you cant make DVDs from HDV sources that look as good as a $500 handycam, and this knowledge becomes wide spread, then I think it will have a negative impact on sales throughout the industry.
The video community is not that large and the internet reaches all People talk. At this point I am telling everyone I know not up upgrade their DV cameras to HDV because I have been told by the pros that there is no point.
Again, you can get OK results, but if you do direct comparisons on a broadcast monitor with a broadcast source from both SD and HDV raw footage and then transcoded SD DVDs using an all Adobe-based workflow, then there is simply no comparison The SD is always closer to the original. I have personally tried this I have tried almost every combination of field-options, frame options, de-interlacing, progressive output and codec that I can find. Still no-joy.
To really see if I was on to something or just being too-picky, I did an experiment yesterday I cut a DVD, then drove into town to our local studio photographer I asked him to go me a favor and play the DVD to his 2-person staff.. I did not say a thing. Both of the staff members basically said, cool footage, but one got up and started to fiddle with the monitor He saw all these interlacing artifacts and thought that their must be something wrong with the monitor.
Either an Adobe-based HDV to SD DVD workflow exists or it does not We are talking comsumer and prosumer here. I have been told by my pro and semi-pro friends what they use, and it is not an Adobe or Apple workflow... They play in a different league
The consumer/prosumer doesnt expect 1080x24p, but the results have to look as a 5-year-old handycam or whats the point? It is just that simple.
Adobe: If a workflow exists, just say so; provide details: the codec, settings, profiles, etc and be done with it. It is in your best interest to tell your customers If the workflow does not exist, just say so After all, folks are willing to spend $$$ on this stuff, so if we all need to by some 3rd party software for transcoding, rendering or whatever, then we'll do it. If we have to send our final tapes to a post-pro shop and just pay them for the final master, then provide a list of of shops that you would recomend...
I have called Adobe 3 times in the past month and could not get a decent answer. I know Adobe monitors this forum, but they have been silent on this topic. Either they know there is a problem, or they dont.
What is Acceptable Quality?
Hugh